Selig Recliner

As an importer and producer, the Selig furniture company helped popularize timeless and elegant postwar designs in the United States.

Selig created Danish-inspired chairs, sofas and other furnishings for the home that were cutting-edge, contemporary and airy. The brand was also among the first to introduce Scandinavian and European modern styles to Americans in the 1950s and 60s. The company imported and manufactured furniture known for its extraordinary design and style using high-quality, enduring and seductive materials.

Selig was founded in 1931 by Mandell Selig and Samuel Wexler. The pair started the business during the challenging economic times of the Great Depression prior to World War II. By the 1960s, under the leadership of Wexler's son, Robert, Selig peaked with manufacturing factories in five American cities.

Selig’s importing business had a meaningful impact on Italian furniture manufacturers. Wexler, the junior, had a hand in advancing and growing the manufacturing sector of the country’s Udine region. Due to this contribution, the Italian government saw fit to knight Robert Wexler with the title of “Cavaliere.”

After nearly four decades of influencing seating and lounging preferences in the United States with sophisticated mid-century modern and Scandinavian modern furniture — including its own chrome rocking chairs and leather club chairs — Selig sold to Simmons, the mattress company, in 1970, thus dissolving. Much of what they produced and imported is still available despite no longer being manufactured, and many collectors seek original Selig furniture.

On 1stDibs, find an array of vintage Selig furniture that includes lounge chairs, armchairs, tables and more.

While this specific seating is known to all for its comfort and familiar form, the history of how your favorite antique or vintage lounge chair came to be is slightly more ambiguous.

Although there are rare armchairs dating back as far as the 17th century, some believe that the origins of the first official “lounge chair” are tied to Hungarian modernist designer-architect Marcel Breuer. Sure, Breuer wasn’t exactly reinventing the wheel when he introduced the Wassily lounge chair in 1925, but his seat was indeed revolutionary for its integration of bent tubular steel.

Officially, a lounge chair is simply defined as a “comfortable armchair,” which allows for the shape and material of the furnishings to be extremely diverse. Whether or not chaise longues make the cut for this category is a matter of frequent debate.

The Eames lounge chair, on the other hand, has come to define somewhat of a universal perception of what a lounge chair can be. Introduced in 1956, the Eames lounger (and its partner in cozy, the ottoman) quickly became staples in television shows, prestigious office buildings and sumptuous living rooms. Venerable American mid-century modern designers Charles and Ray Eames intended for it to be the peak of luxury, which they knew meant taking furniture to the next level of style and comfort. Their chair inspired many modern interpretations of the lounge — as well as numerous copies.

On 1stDibs, find a broad range of unique lounge chairs that includes everything from antique Victorian-era seating to vintage mid-century modern lounge chairs by craftspersons such as Hans Wegner to contemporary choices from today’s innovative designers.